Meet Scotland's Virtual School Head Teachers

 Larissa Gordon, Aberdeen City

 

Larissa Gordon is the Virtual School Head Teacher in Aberdeen City and was the first Virtual School Head Teacher in Scotland, taking up the post in December 2015. Larissa’s virtual school team includes an Education Support Officer and she is supported by colleagues in social work, the third sector, central education services, and a Looked After Children’s Nurse. Together, they work to develop and improve services for care experienced children and young people, including support for children in kinship care and early years. Larissa also works closely with a range of agencies to provide an effective and strategically coordinated approach to levelling the playing field for care experienced children. In addition to her role in Aberdeen, Larissa joined CELCIS’s Education Team part-time in 2020 as the National Advisor to the Virtual School Head Teacher Network.

You can contact Larissa by emailing lagordon@aberdeencity.gov.uk

 Emma Allan, Aberdeenshire

 

Emma Allen is the Virtual Head Teacher in Aberdeenshire. Since taking up the post in August 2019, Emma and her team have worked closely with care experienced primary and secondary pupils through key staff in their schools, as well as providing support at a strategic level for young people leaving school and children in early years settings. In partnership with care experienced pupils, the team is currently co-designing an online platform where children and young people can share their views, successes, and find useful resources. Emma and her team have also focused on building positive relationships with multi-agency colleagues to develop networks, raise awareness and work towards planning support for pupils to improve their attainment and outcomes.

You can contact Emma by emailing Virtual.School@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

In Argyll and Bute, the Care Experienced Fund has enabled the creation of the post of Principal Teacher for Care Experienced Children. From January 2019 to December 2020, the post-holder was Lena Carter. The post was taken up by Christine Walker in January 2021 when Lena returned to her substantive role in the school. The post has facilitated a sharp focus on meeting the needs of care experienced learners of all ages and their families through robust multi-agency work, support for education settings, training, tracking and monitoring, and risk and data analysis. During 2020, a team of Looked After Health and Wellbeing Liaison Officers were appointed as part of the team and together they are providing highly effective, needs-driven support despite the potential additional barriers to educational engagement arising as a result of COVID-19.

You can contact Christine by emailing christine.walker2@argyll-bute.gov.uk

 Alison Ferla, Dumfries and Galloway

 

Alison Ferla is the Principal Teacher for care experienced children and young people in Dumfries and Galloway. Since taking up the post in February 2019, Alison’s role has evolved to work alongside a team of three teachers and nine care experienced support officers. Alison and the team work with primary and secondary pupils to raise attainment, with a focus on literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing, and to support young people to address any barriers to education they may encounter. The team also works with families to help support and progress this improvement.

You can contact Alison by emailing Alison.Ferla@dumgal.gov.uk or phoning 07771252872.

 Fiona Low, Dundee City

 

Fiona Low is the Education Officer in Dundee City. Fiona works closely with the Education Manager (additional support needs, educational psychology and inclusion), and is supported by colleagues across Dundee's Children and Families Service, including educational psychologists and the Accessibility and Inclusion Team. Fiona's work involves all school age care experienced children and young people, with a close link to children in residential settings, children not accessing mainstream education, children with additional support needs, and young carers. By developing links with teams who work closely with children in residential houses, Fiona acts as a key link between the houses and schools to support new processes and plans for young people. Fiona's also works with Dundee’s Champions Board and on improving transitions for care leavers, which has been established through developing close relationships with the Throughcare and Aftercare Team.

You can contact Fiona by emailing fiona.low@dundeecity.gov.uk or phoning 07824 343 047.

Jennifer Cairns, East Lothian

Jennifer Cairns is the Virtual School Head Teacher for East Lothian and works with care experienced children and young people, including care leavers. She also works with young people who are looked after at home, living in residential units or struggling to manage secondary school. East Lothian now also has a strong network of Designated Managers for care experienced young people in every school, with twice yearly learning sessions run in collaboration with East Lothian Who Cares? Scotland Participation Officers. 

You can contact Jennifer by emailing jcairns2@eastlothian.gov.uk 

Sharon McGhee, City of Edinburgh

Sharon McGhee is a Quality Improvement Education Officer for the City of Edinburgh Council with a responsibility for care experienced children and young people in Edinburgh. With over 22 years’ experience working in multiple education settings, Sharon’s role is to ensure that all partners work with and on behalf of Edinburgh’s children to ensure that aspirations and outcomes are of the highest standard. A key part of Sharon’s role is to listen and respond to the voices of children and young people with a key focus on education.

Sharon is care experienced and a foster carer, and her professional skills and abilities along with her personal lived experiences have been combined in a role which she describes as ‘energising, exciting and crucial’.

Sharon can be contacted by emailing Sharon.mcghee@edinburgh.gov.uk or phoning 07843 504894

Zoe Thomson, Fife

A multi-disciplinary team of staff from education and social work, led by a Virtual Head Teacher, was established in Fife in June 2019 to ensure that effective planning is in place for care experienced children and young people. This includes contributing to the review of policy and procedures for school transfers, to quality assure secure placements, and championing the education needs, rights and wellbeing of children and young people in schools. Mentors are trained to support young people in secondary school, with a focus on those who are looked after at home, in kinship care or residential care. Improvement methodology tests of change are used to track and monitor attendance, engagement and attainment for identified young people in secondary schools. Fife’s Education and Children's Services Directorate is currently refreshing its strategy in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can contact the team in Fife by emailing Zoe Thomson, Education Manger on Zoe.Thomson@fife.gov.uk

 Seonaid​​​​​​ Graham, Glasgow

 

Seonaid Graham is the Lead for Care Experienced Learners (CEL) as part of Glasgow Virtual School. Seonaid was previously seconded as a Senior Educational Psychologist to Glasgow’s Care Experienced Team in 2019. Alongside education Seonaid works as part of a multi-agency team with Social Work and Residential Children’s House colleagues. Within Glasgow Virtual School Seonaid is supported by the Virtual School Head Teacher and three Area Lead Officers to raise educational outcomes for care experienced learners. The focus of the team is to improve attendance, attainment, positive destinations and reduce exclusions for care experienced learners. This is delivered through robust tracking and monitoring and support offered to education and social work colleagues at weekly solution focused and strengths based consultation meetings. Glasgow Virtual School link directly with educational establishments and Children’s Houses in their area and offer regular training and support. Following a successful pilot Seonaid is leading on the roll out of How Nurturing is Our Children’s House (HNIOCH) across all 19 Children’s Houses in Glasgow.

You can contact Seonaid by e-mailing: cel@glasgow.gov.uk

Highland, Kellie Cunningham

More information coming soon.

Gillian Anderson, North Ayrshire

More information coming soon.

Mary Jane Hunter, North Lanarkshire

Mary Jane Hunter is the Virtual School Lead in North Lanarkshire. Mary Jane took up the post in May 2019 and oversees a multi-disciplinary team, which includes staff from Social Work, Children’s Residential Care and Education. The Virtual School Team provides a range of (often bespoke) services and projects to raise attainment, improve outcomes and to support care experienced children and young people in reaching their potential. The Virtual School Team also works closely with schools, residential staff and other partners to help build the skills and capacity of staff in order to support young people at school and with their learning.

You can contact Mary Jane and the Virtual School Team by emailing virtualschool@northlan.gov.uk or phoning 01698 332045

Jean Brierley, Renfrewshire

More information coming soon.

 Scott Watson, Scottish Borders

 

Scott Watson is the Equity and Inclusion Lead Officer in Scottish Borders Council and the Virtual School Headteacher for care experienced children and young people. Scott’s background is a secondary school teacher with experience of classroom teaching, pastoral and senior leadership. Since taking up post in October 2021, Scott’s focus has been to support and challenge schools and educational settings to raise attainment and achievement, increase positive and sustained destinations and to address any barriers for learners accessing their education. Scott is working closely with partners and local authority colleagues to ensure The Promise is embedded in practice across the council.

You can contact Scott by emailing scott.watson@scotborders.gov.uk

Kimberley Keenan, South Ayrshire

Kimberley Keenan is the Virtual School Head Teacher in South Ayrshire. Kimberley took up post in August 2019 and works with a team of Welfare Officers who work directly with care experienced young people and their families. Alongside this work, Kimberley works with schools to build relationships with staff and provide support to help them raise the attainment of care experienced pupils. In addition, Kimberley and her team work closely with other organisations and services to ensure that care experienced pupils and their families receive the support they need. Kimberley also works more strategically with her colleagues in education and health and social care teams.

You can contact Kimberley by emailing Kimberley.keenan@south-ayrshire.gov.uk or phoning 01292 612309.

Sarah Anderson, Stirling

Stirling's Virtual Head Teacher Team is made up of a number of part-time staff members, including Sarah Anderson, the Additional Support Needs and Wellbeing Team Lead, an education psychologist, two secondary deputy head teachers, and a support for learning teacher, with admin support provided by colleagues in social work. Together, they oversee responsibility for all care experienced children and young people in the area, including young people in training, employment and activity agreements. Their focus includes monitoring and tracking attendance, exclusions and attainment, promoting wellbeing and mental health awareness, and engaging with young people and ensuring they have a voice in decisions that matter to them. They also promote training and development of the workforce, with an emphasis on raising awareness of the role of corporate parents. They participate in the wider Corporate Parenting Strategy group for Stirling Council and work closely with Stirling’s Champions Board.

You can contact the Virtual Head Teacher for Stirling by emailing AdditionalSupportNeeds@stirling.gov.uk, or by emailing the Additional Support Needs and Wellbeing Team Lead, Sarah Anderson, at: andersons1@stirling.gov.uk